System and method for generating enhanced distributed online registry

ABSTRACT

A system for generating an enhanced distributed online registry that utilizes an interoperable framework, and machine learning and natural language processing technologies to automatically provide compatible registry items. A persistent secure connection across distributed systems facilitates automatic synchronization of the generated online registry items across the distributed systems and devices accessing those systems. The online registry application processor utilizes machine learning and natural language technologies to generate an acquisition trending model which may be utilized to generate an enhanced distributed online registry that may determine and provide registry items that are compatible with the customer acquisition. Utilizing a persistent bi-directional connection, the online registry application processor may automatically synchronize the enhanced distributed online registry in real time as registry items are added and purchased.

FIELD OF DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for generating anenhanced distributed online registry that utilizes an interoperableframework, and machine learning and natural language processingtechnologies to automatically provide compatible registry items. Thesystems and methods utilize a persistent secure connection to facilitateautomatic synchronization of the generated online registry items acrossthe distributed systems and devices accessing those systems.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Online registry generation is time consuming, resource intensive andrequires duplicative processing. Currently, online registry systems arenot comprehensively integrated with merchant and acquisition systems.Online registries require customers to manually select registry itemsand manually share the registries with other users. Such registrysystems do not utilize existing infrastructures of associated thirdparty systems to provide comprehensive and efficient generation.

Additionally, this lack of comprehensive integration prevents theestablishment of a persistent bi-directional connection between a clientdevice and an online registry server. As such, as items aresimultaneously added, removed and purchased from an online registry,multiple inconsistent instances of the online registry as accessed bythe client device and that which is stored on the online registry servermay result.

These and other drawbacks exist.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems andmethods for generating an enhanced distributed online registry. Anonline registry system is fully integrated with an acquisition serverand third party systems, including social networking systems. Thisunique integration facilitates the generation of an enhanced distributedonline registry that may automatically determine registry items that arecompatible with an item purchased by a customer, and may also becompatible with customer preferences.

Specifically, an online registry system may include an online registryapplication processor, an authentication processor, data storage, and acommunication interface. The online registry application processor maysecurely communicate with an acquisition server that is configured toprovide real-time acquisition determinations and may transmit to theonline registry application processor an acquisition request approvalincluding at least customer identification information, customerfinancial information, and one or more customer acquisition preferencesretrieved from the data storage. Information from existing onlineregistries, merchant systems, and the like, along with the customeridentification information, the customer financial information may beprocessed and clustered utilizing machine learning and natural languagetechnologies to generate an acquisition trending model.

The online registry application processor may utilize the acquisitiontrending model to generate an enhanced distributed online registry thatmay determine and provide registry items that are compatible with thecustomer acquisition. The online registry system may include anauthentication processor that may evaluate user data and user input toauthenticate the user. Upon authentication, the system may transmit asecure link to the user device that provides access to the enhanceddistributed online registry.

Utilizing a persistent bi-directional connection, the online registryapplication processor may automatically synchronize the enhanceddistributed online registry in real time as registry items are added andpurchased. The online registry application processor may be seamlesslyintegrated with third party systems. For example, a secure communicationinterface may be established with a third party social networkingsystem, that may be configured to share a secure link that providesaccess to the enhanced distributed online registry.

As such, this unique interoperable framework enhances the onlineregistry system's machine learning and natural language processingtechnologies to automatically provide compatible registry items. Thepersistent secure connection across distributed systems facilitatesautomatic synchronization of the generated online registry items acrossthe distributed systems and devices accessing those systems.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an example system for generating and sharing an enhanceddistributed online registry, according to embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 depicts an example system including a backend processor,according to embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 depicts a schematic diagram of a system for generating andsharing an enhanced distributed online registry, according toembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 depicts an example method for generating and updating an enhanceddistributed online registry, according to embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 depicts an example user interface that may be utilized by acustomer to select items to add to the system generated enhanceddistributed online registry;

FIG. 6 depicts an example user interface that displays a summary of thesystem generated enhanced distributed online registry, that may beautomatically updated in real time; and

FIG. 7 depicts an example user interface that may be utilized toauthenticate a user to provide access to the system generated enhanceddistributed online registry to display and allow the user to purchaseitems electronically.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The following description is intended to convey a thorough understandingof the embodiments described by providing a number of specific exampleembodiments and details involving generating an enhanced distributedonline registry. Merchant sites may include, for example auto merchants,stores, etc. It should be appreciated, however, that the presentdisclosure is not limited to these specific embodiments and details,which are examples only. It is further understood that one possessingordinary skill in the art, in light of known systems and methods, wouldappreciate the use of the invention for its intended purposes andbenefits in any number of alternative embodiments, depending on specificdesign and other needs. A user device is used as an example for thedisclosure. The disclosure is not intended to be limited to user devicesonly. For example, many other electronic devices may utilize an onlineregistry system to generate an enhanced distributed online registry thatutilizes an interoperable framework, and machine learning and naturallanguage processing technologies to automatically provide compatibleregistry items.

Though the example provided herein relates to generating an enhancedonline registry providing registry items that are compatible with acustomer acquisition, one of skill in the art would appreciate that theutilization of an interoperable framework, distributed processing,automatic data synchronization and authentication technologies describedherein could be utilized in various online registry systems, such as thevarious systems identified below.

FIG. 1 depicts an example system 100 for generating an enhanceddistributed online registry. As shown in FIG. 1, an example system 100may include one or more acquisition servers 110, an online registrysystem 120, one or more user devices 140, and one or more socialnetworking systems 150 connected over one or more networks 130.

An online registry system 120 may receive an acquisition requestapproval from acquisition server 110, which may be configured to providereal-time acquisition determinations. For example, online registrysystem 120 may receive a notification from an acquisition system, tiedto an acquisition of a car purchase by a customer (registry owner),including at least customer identification information, customerfinancial information, one or more customer acquisition preferences,customer age, customer gender, customer occupation, date of acquisition,location of acquisition, purchase price for acquisition, and the like.Online registry system 120 may have differentiated access to theacquisition server 110, other third party systems, including merchantsystems, social networking system 150, and the like via privateApplication Programming Interfaces (APIs). Online registry system 120may make calls to the APIs utilizing a token to provide a securecommunication channel. The set of APIs may also provide a securecommunication channel between a user device 140, and online registrysystem 120.

Online registry application processor 122 may retrieve information fromexisting online registries and other systems, and may cluster thereceived customer identification information, customer financialinformation, customer acquisition preferences, and the like to generatean acquisition trending model, which may be stored in data storage. Thesystem generated acquisition trending model may be utilized by onlineregistry application processor 122 to generate an enhanced distributedonline registry that may automatically determine and provide registryitems that are compatible with the associated customer acquisition.

Online registry application processor may transmit via communicationinterface 128 a push notification to user device 140, where the userdevice is associated with a registry recipient user. The pushnotification may include data indicative of the enhanced distributedonline registry.

The network 130 may be one or more of a wireless network, a wirednetwork or any combination of wireless network and wired network.Network 130 may include one or more of a fiber optics network, a passiveoptical network, a cable network, an Internet network, a satellitenetwork, a wireless LAN, a Global System for Mobile Communication(“GSM”), a Personal Communication Service (“PCS”), a Personal AreaNetwork (“PAN”), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), MultimediaMessaging Service (MMS), Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS), Short MessageService (SMS), Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) based systems, CodeDivision Multiple Access (CDMA) based systems, D-AMPS, Wi-Fi, FixedWireless Data, IEEE 802.11b, 802.15.1, 802.11n and 802.11g, a Bluetoothnetwork, or any other wired or wireless network for transmitting andreceiving a data signal.

In addition, network 130 may include, without limitation, telephonelines, fiber optics, IEEE Ethernet 902.3, a wide area network (“WAN”), alocal area network (“LAN”), a wireless personal area network (“WPAN”), awide body area network (“WBAN”) or a global network such as theInternet. Also network 130 may support an Internet network, a wirelesscommunication network, a cellular network, or the like, or anycombination thereof. Network 130 may further include one network, or anynumber of the example types of networks mentioned above, operating as astand-alone network or in cooperation with each other. Network 130 mayutilize one or more protocols of one or more network elements to whichthey are communicatively coupled. Network 130 may translate to or fromother protocols to one or more protocols of network devices. Althoughnetwork 130 is depicted as a single network, it should be appreciatedthat according to one or more embodiments, network 130 may comprise aplurality of interconnected networks, such as, for example, theInternet, a service provider's network, a cable television network,corporate networks, and home networks.

Acquisition server 110, online registry system 120, user device 140,and/or social networking system 150 also may include a network-enabledcomputer system and/or device. As referred to herein, a network-enabledcomputer system and/or device may include, but is not limited to: e.g.,any computer device, or communications device including, e.g., a server,a network appliance, a personal computer (PC), a workstation, a mobiledevice, a phone, a handheld PC, a personal digital assistant (PDA), athin client, a fat client, an Internet browser, or other device. Thenetwork-enabled computer systems may execute one or more softwareapplications to, for example, receive data as input from an entityaccessing the network-enabled computer system, process received data,transmit data over a network, and receive data over a network. Forexample, online registry system 120 may include, for example, componentsillustrated in FIG. 2.

Acquisition server 110, online registry system 120, user device 140,and/or social networking system 150, may include at least one centralprocessing unit (CPU), which may be configured to execute computerprogram instructions to perform various processes and methods.Acquisition server 110, online registry system 120, user device 140,and/or social networking system 150 may include data storage, includingfor example, random access memory (RAM) and read only memory (ROM),which may be configured to access and store data and information andcomputer program instructions. Data storage may also include storagemedia or other suitable type of memory (e.g., such as, for example, RAM,ROM, programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmableread-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-onlymemory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, floppy disks, harddisks, removable cartridges, flash drives, any type of tangible andnon-transitory storage medium), where the files that comprise anoperating system, application programs including, for example, webbrowser application, email application and/or other applications, anddata files may be stored. The data storage of the network-enabledcomputer systems may include electronic information, files, anddocuments stored in various ways, including, for example, a flat file,indexed file, hierarchical database, relational database, such as adatabase created and maintained with software from, for example, Oracle®Corporation, Microsoft® Excel® file, Microsoft® Access® file, a solidstate storage device, which may include an all flash array, a hybridarray, or a server-side product, enterprise storage, which may includeonline or cloud storage, or any other storage mechanism.

Acquisition server 110, online registry system 120, user device 140,and/or social networking system 150 may further include, for example, aprocessor, which may be several processors, a single processor, or asingle device having multiple processors. Although depicted as singleelements, it should be appreciated that according to one or moreembodiments, acquisition server 110, online registry system 120, userdevice 140, and/or social networking system 150, and/or may comprise aplurality of acquisition servers 110, online registry systems 120, userdevices 140, and/or social networking systems 150. As shown in FIG. 1,each acquisition server 110, online registry system 120, user device140, and/or social networking system 150. As used herein, the term“component” may be understood to refer to computer executable software,firmware, hardware, and/or various combinations thereof. It is notedthere where a component is a software and/or firmware component, thecomponent is configured to affect the hardware elements of an associatedsystem. It is further noted that the components shown and describedherein are intended as examples. The components may be combined,integrated, separated, or duplicated to support various applications.Also, a function described herein as being performed at a particularcomponent may be performed at one or more other components and by one ormore other devices instead of or in addition to the function performedat the particular component. Further, the components may be implementedacross multiple devices or other components local or remote to oneanother. Additionally, the components may be moved from one device andadded to another device, or may be included in both devices.

As depicted in FIG. 1, an acquisition server 110 may include acommunication interface 112 and data storage 114. Acquisition server 110may be configured to provide real-time acquisition determinations, andmay include various hardware and software components to communicate, viacommunication interface 112, between a merchant, acquisition system,account provider system and/or a user device to provide prequalificationfor financing, provide financing, and process a transaction such as auser purchase. In one embodiment, acquisition server 110 may be utilizedby a customer to search for a car at a particular auto merchant, obtainprequalification for financing for the car, purchase and fund the car bythe associated account provider system.

The acquisition server 110 may be part of the backend computing systemsand associated servers of a merchant, account provider systems, and thelike. An account provider system may include, by way of example and notlimitation, depository institutions (e.g., banks, credit unions,building societies, trust companies, mortgage loan companies, pre-paidgift cards or credit cards, etc.), contractual institutions (e.g.,insurance companies, pension funds, mutual funds, etc.), investmentinstitutions (e.g., investment banks, underwriters, brokerage funds,etc.), and other non-bank financial institutions (e.g., pawn shops orbrokers, cashier's check issuers, insurance firms, check-cashinglocations, payday lending, currency exchanges, microloan organizations,crowd-funding or crowd-sourcing entities, third-party paymentprocessors, etc.).

Data storage 114 may store data and/or components to enable thegeneration, transmission and processing of customer data associated withan account (e.g., card number, account type, account balance, accountlimits, budget data, recent transactions, pairing data such as time anddate of pairing with a mobile device, and the like) and account holderdata (e.g., account holder name, address, phone number(s), emailaddress, demographic data, and the like).

Acquisition server 110 may include components to send and/or receivedata for use in other components, such as communication interface 112. Acommunication interface 112 may include various hardware and softwarecomponents, such as, for example, a repeater, a microwave antenna, acellular tower, or another network access device capable of providingconnectivity between network mediums. The communication interface 152may also contain various software and/or hardware components to enablecommunication over a network 130. For example, communication interface112 may be capable of sending or receiving signals via network 130.Moreover, communication interface 112 may provide connectivity to one ormore wired networks and may be capable of receiving signals on onemedium such as a wired network and transmitting the received signals ona second medium such as a wireless network.

Online registry system 120 may include online registry applicationprocessor 122, authentication processor 124, data storage 126, andcommunication interface 128. Online registry system 120 may include dataand/or components, systems, and interfaces, including applicationprogramming interfaces (APIs) to enable the generation, transmission,and processing of data including digital authentication data. Onlineregistry application processor 122 may receive from acquisition server110 an acquisition request approval including at least customeridentification information, customer financial information, and one ormore customer acquisition preferences that may be retrieved from datastorage 126. Utilizing machine learning and natural language processingtechnologies, online registry application processor 122 may cluster andevaluate information retrieved from existing registries, which mayinclude customer, product, and merchant information associated withsimilar acquisition requests, to generate an acquisition trending model,which may be stored in data storage 126. Online registry applicationprocessor 122 may build content to be processed by the machine learningand natural language processing technologies and learning models basedon factors associated with the acquisition, which may include locationof the acquisition, price of the acquisition, climatic conditions of theacquisition, and the like. For example, for a car that is purchasedduring the winter in a location with a cold climate prone to snow andice, in building the acquisition trending model, online registryapplication processor may evaluate the location and climatic conditionsincluding the cold climate and snow, to recommend registry productsbased on these conditions, which may include items such as four wheeldrive, snow tires, seat warmers, and the like. Online registryapplication processor 120 may utilize an API to communicate with thirdparty systems to evaluate these factors which are utilized to build thecontent which is processed to generate the acquisition trending model.For example, online registry application processor may communicate witha third party weather application system to obtain information todetermine the weather of a location associated with an acquisition. Theprocessor may utilize the retrieved weather information to build alearning model that takes into account this weather factor when buildingthe acquisition trending model and consequently determining andrecommending registry items that are compatible with the customeracquisition.

Online registry application processor 122 may utilize the acquisitiontrending model to generate an enhanced distributed online registry thatautomatically determines and recommends registry items that arecompatible with the customer acquisition.

Online registry system 120 may include an authentication processor 124connected to online registry application processor 122 to generate andprocess authentication data associated with a user trying to access thesystem generated online registry. Authentication processor 124 mayreceive user data and user input associated with an authenticationrequest, sent from user device 140 via communication interface 142 toauthenticate the user. Authentication processor 124 may evaluate theuser data and user input, and upon authentication, online registrysystem may transmit a secure link to user device 140 that providesaccess to the enhanced distributed online registry.

As depicted in FIG. 1, user device 140 may be any device capable ofcommunicating via, for example, Bluetooth technology, NFC technology,WiFi Direct technology, and/or the like and execute various functions totransmit and receive user data (e.g., card number, account type, accountbalance, account limits, budget data, recent transactions, and/or thelike). User device 140 may include components to send and/or receivedata for use in other components, such as communications interface 142.For example, user device 140 could be an iPhone, iPod, iPad, and/orApple Watch from Apple® or other mobile device running Apple's iOSoperating system, devices running Google's Android® operating system,including, for example, smartphones running the Android® operatingsystem and other wearable mobile devices, such as Google Glass orSamsung Galaxy Gear Smartwatch, devices running Microsoft's Windows®Mobile operating system, and/or any other smartphone, smartwatch,tablet, or like device.

The current location of user device 140 may be determined using manydifferent technologies such as GPS technology, Internet-basedtechnology, etc., which may utilize location data. By way of example,location data may include, but is not limited to GPS data, assisted GPSdata, IP address data, cell ID data, received signal strength indication(RSSI) data, wireless fingerprinting data, inertial sensor data (e.g.,compass or magnetometer data, accelerometer data, and/or gyroscopedata), barometer data, ultrasonic data (e.g., radio-frequencyidentification (RFID) data, near-field communication (NFC) data),Bluetooth data, and/or terrestrial transmitter data.

User device 140 may also include various software components tofacilitate the account and payment operations including an applicationprocessor (not shown in FIG. 1). For example, user device 140 mayinclude an operating system such as, for example, the iOS® operatingsystem from Apple®, the Google® Android® operating system, and theWindows Mobile® operating system from Microsoft®. Mobile device 120 mayalso include, without limitation, software applications such as mobilebanking applications and financial institution applications tofacilitate ordering and payment, an NFC application programminginterface, and software to enable touch sensitive displays. Mobiledevice manufacturers may provide software stacks or ApplicationProgramming Interfaces (APIs) which allow software applications to bewritten on top of the software stacks. For example, mobile devicemanufacturers may provide, without limitation, a card emulation API toenable NFC card emulation mode, a logic link control protocol (LLCP) APIfor peer-to-peer communication between mobile devices, a Bluetooth® APIsupporting BLE, and a real-time data (RTD) API and a NFC Data ExchangeFormat (NDEF) API for reading/writing.

The application processor may enable execution of software applicationson mobile device 140, which may include online registry application 144,which may include various user interfaces, which may leveragetransaction data, wireless data connection, over-the-air dataconnection, or other means of data transmission to allow a user tosecurely access and purchase items from the system generated onlineregistry.

The data used in the application may be transmitted, for example, fromexternal data sources. The application and user interface may leverageinformation about compatible registry items, including products and/orservices being purchased, information about the account or accountholder, information about the merchant and/or other parties involved ina transaction, rewards information, promotional information, advertisinginformation, and other useful information. Software applications onmobile device 140, including, for example, online registry application124, which may be integrated with or separate from a mobile walletapplication, which may be utilized to seamlessly purchase items from thesystem generated online registry.

System 100 may also include a social networking system 150, which maycommunicate with social networking sites, which may include, withoutlimitation, Facebook, MySpace, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest,Instagram, etc. The social networking site may include a plurality ofsocial networking accounts created by one or more users. The users mayalso be customers associated with acquisition server 110. Onlineregistry system 120 may establish a secure connection with socialnetworking system 150, utilizing secure communication interface 128 toshare a secure link that provides access to the system generatedenhanced distributed online registry.

Referring to FIG. 2, system 200 may include a system to generate anenhanced distributed online registry. For example, system 200 mayinclude a user device 202, which may be similar to user device 140, anetwork 204, which may be similar to network 130, a front-end controlleddomain 206, a back-end controlled domain 212, and a backend system 218.Front-end controlled domain 206 may include one or more load balancers208 and one or more web servers 210. Back-end controlled domain 212 mayinclude one or more load balancers 214 and one or more applicationservers 216.

User device 202 may be a network-enabled computer. As referred toherein, a network-enabled computer may include, but is not limited to:e.g., any computer device, or communications device including, e.g., aserver, a network appliance, a personal computer (PC), a workstation, amobile device, a phone, a handheld PC, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a thin client, a fat client, an Internet browser, or otherdevice. The one or more network-enabled computers of the example system200 may execute one or more software applications to enable, forexample, network communications.

User device 202 may include an iPhone@, iPod®, iPad®, and/or AppleWatch® from Apple® or any other mobile device running Apple's iOS®operating system, any device running Google's Android® operating system,including for example, Google's wearable device, Google Glass®, anydevice running Microsoft's Windows® Mobile operating system, and/or anyother smartphone or like wearable mobile device.

Network 204 may be one or more of a wireless network, a wired network,or any combination of a wireless network and a wired network. Forexample, network 304 may include one or more of a fiber optics network,a passive optical network, a cable network, an Internet network, asatellite network, a wireless LAN, a Global System for MobileCommunication (GSM), a Personal Communication Service (PCS), a personalarea network, (PAN), D-AMPS, Wi-Fi, fixed wireless data, IEEE 802.11b,802.15.1, 802.11n, and 802.11g or any other wired or wireless networkfor transmitting and receiving a data signal.

In addition, network 204 may include, without limitation, telephonelines, fiber optics, IEEE Ethernet 902.3, a wide area network (WAN), alocal area network (LAN), a wide body area network (“WBAN”) or a globalnetwork such as the Internet. Also, network 204 may support an Internetnetwork, a wireless communication network, a cellular network, or thelike, or any combination thereof. Network 204 may further include onenetwork, or any number of example types of networks mentioned above,operating as a stand-alone network or in cooperation with each other.Network 304 may utilize one or more protocols of one or more networkelements to which they are communicatively couples. Network 204 maytranslate to or from other protocols to one or more protocols of networkdevices. Although network 204 is depicted as a single network, it shouldbe appreciated that according to one or more embodiments, network 204may comprise a plurality of interconnected networks, such as, forexample, the Internet, a service provider's network, a cable televisionnetwork, corporate networks, and home networks.

Front-end controlled domain 206 may be implemented to provide securityfor backend 218. Load balancer(s) 208 may distribute workloads acrossmultiple computing resources, such as, for example computers, a computercluster, network links, central processing units or disk drives. Invarious embodiments, load balancer(s) 210 may distribute workloadsacross, for example, web server(s) 216 and/or backend 218 systems. Loadbalancing aims to optimize resource use, maximize throughput, minimizeresponse time, and avoid overload of any one of the resources. Usingmultiple components with load balancing instead of a single componentmay increase reliability through redundancy. Load balancing is usuallyprovided by dedicated software or hardware, such as a multilayer switchor a Domain Name System (DNS) server process.

Load balancer(s) 208 may include software that monitoring the port whereexternal clients, such as, for example, user device 202, connect toaccess various services of a financial institution, for example. Loadbalancer(s) 208 may forward requests to one of the application servers216 and/or backend 218 servers, which may then reply to load balancer208. This may allow load balancer(s) 208 to reply to user device 202without user device 202 ever knowing about the internal separation offunctions. It also may prevent user devices from contacting backendservers directly, which may have security benefits by hiding thestructure of the internal network and preventing attacks on backend 218or unrelated services running on other ports, for example.

A variety of scheduling algorithms may be used by load balancer(s) 208to determine which backend server to send a request to. Simplealgorithms may include, for example, random choice or round robin. Loadbalancers 208 also may account for additional factors, such as aserver's reported load, recent response times, up/down status(determined by a monitoring poll of some kind), number of activeconnections, geographic location, capabilities, or how much traffic ithas recently been assigned.

Load balancers 208 may be implemented in hardware and/or software. Loadbalancer(s) 308 may implement numerous features, including, withoutlimitation: asymmetric loading Priority activation: SSL Offload andAcceleration; Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack protection;HTTP/HTTPS compression; TCP offloading TCP buffering; direct serverreturn; health checking HTTP/HTTPS caching; content filtering;HTTP/HTTPS security; priority queuing; rate shaping; content-awareswitching; client authentication; programmatic traffic manipulation;firewall; intrusion prevention systems.

Web server(s) 210 may include hardware (e.g., one or more computers)and/or software (e.g., one or more applications) that deliver webcontent that can be accessed by, for example a client device (e.g., userdevice 202) through a network (e.g., network 204), such as the Internet.In various examples, web servers, may deliver web pages, relating to,for example, online banking applications and the like, to clients (e.g.,user device 202). Web server(s) 210 may use, for example, a hypertexttransfer protocol (HTTP/HTTPS or sHTTP) to communicate with user device202. The web pages delivered to user device may include, for example,HTML documents, which may include images, style sheets and scripts inaddition to text content.

A user agent, such as, for example, a web browser, web crawler, ornative mobile application, may initiate communication by making arequest for a specific resource using HTTP/HTTPS and web server 210 mayrespond with the content of that resource or an error message if unableto do so. The resource may be, for example a file on stored on backend218. Web server(s) 210 also may enable or facilitate receiving contentfrom user device 202 so user device 202 may be able to, for example,submit web forms, including uploading of files.

Web server(s) also may support server-side scripting using, for example,Active Server Pages (ASP), PHP, or other scripting languages.Accordingly, the behavior of web server(s) 210 can be scripted inseparate files, while the actual server software remains unchanged.

Load balancers 214 may be similar to load balancers 208 as describedabove.

Application server(s) 216 may include hardware and/or software that isdedicated to the efficient execution of procedures (e.g., programs,routines, scripts) for supporting its applied applications. Applicationserver(s) 216 may comprise one or more application server frameworks,including, for example, Java application servers (e.g., Java platform,Enterprise Edition (Java EE), the .NET framework from Microsoft®, PHPapplication servers, and the like). The various application serverframeworks may contain a comprehensive service layer model. Also,application server(s) 216 may act as a set of components accessible to,for example, a financial institution, or other entity implementingsystem 200, through an API defined by the platform itself. For Webapplications, these components may be performed in, for example, thesame running environment as web server(s) 210, and application servers216 may support the construction of dynamic pages. Application server(s)216 also may implement services, such as, for example, clustering,fail-over, and load-balancing. In various embodiments, where applicationserver(s) 216 are Java application servers, the web server(s) 216 maybehaves like an extended virtual machine for running applications,transparently handling connections to databases associated with backend218 on one side, and, connections to the Web client (e.g., user device202) on the other.

Backend 218 may include hardware and/or software that enables thebackend services of, for example, a financial institution, merchant,acquisition or other entity that maintains a distributed system similarto system 200. For example, backend 318 may include, a system of record,online banking applications, encryption applications, BLE/Bluetoothconnection platforms, a rewards platform, a payments platform, a lendingplatform, including the various services associated with, for example,auto and home lending platforms, a statement processing platform, one ormore platforms that provide mobile services, one or more platforms thatprovide online services, a card provisioning platform, a general ledgersystem, and/or a location system, which may include additionalcapabilities, such as transaction card data generation, transactionprocessing, and/or transmission of account and/or transaction data.Backend 218 may be associated with various databases, including accountdatabases that maintain, for example, cardholder information (e.g.,demographic data, credit data, cardholder profile data, and the like),transaction card databases that maintain transaction card data (e.g.,transaction history, account balance, spending limit, budget categories,budget spending, budget limits, and the like), connection information(e.g., public/private key pairs, UUIDs, device identifiers, and thelike) and the like. Backend 218 also may be associated with one or moreservers that enable the various services provided by system 200. Backend218 may enable an online registry system to implement various functionsassociated with generating an enhanced distributed online registry thatdetermines and provides registry items that are compatible with acustomer acquisition.

FIG. 3 depicts a schematic diagram of utilization of a system forgenerating, via an online registry application processor, and sharing,via third party social networking systems, an enhanced distributedonline registry, according to the embodiments of the disclosure. Forinstance, the system for generating an enhanced distributed onlineregistry, by integrating an acquisition system with an online registrysystem, may provide a seamless experience for a customer 300 throughelectronic financing processing, purchasing processing to generation ofthe online registry associated with the customer's purchase.

Utilizing an acquisition system 310, a customer may, via an acquisitionapplication on a customer device, simultaneously apply for a loan topurchase an item, such as a car, and may search across various merchantsystems associated with the acquisition system for cars to purchase. Theacquisition system may determine whether or not to approve the financing320. Upon approving financing and facilitating purchase of an item,acquisition system may transmit a request for permission to a customerdevice, via a push notification through the acquisition application, toshare 300, via a social media system, a notification of the customer'spurchase of the item.

Upon receipt of a confirmation message from the customer via thecustomer device 330, the acquisition system may communicate with socialnetworking systems to share a message that the customer has purchased anitem 350. A user profile may be created for each customer that may bestored in data storage on the acquisition server. A customer may opt into automatically share notifications of acquisitions to social mediaupon completion of acquisition processing, and this permission may bestored in the customer's associated user profile. The acquisition systemmay evaluate whether a customer has opted in to share notifications ofacquisitions via social media, and if the system determines that thecustomer has, the associated notification will automatically be shared.Additionally, a customer may, via an acquisition application, request toshare notifications of acquisitions via social media.

Acquisition system 310 is fully integrated with online registry system340, and this integration may facilitate the generation of an enhanceddistributed online registry that may provide registry items that arecompatible with the item purchased, and may also be compatible withcustomer preferences. The online registry system, upon receiving anotification from the acquisition that a customer has made a purchase,may retrieve and utilize data from the acquisition system pertaining tothe item purchased and also associated customer information. Informationfrom existing online registries and other systems may be retrieved andclustered with customer identification information, customer financialinformation, and the like. For example, the online registry system mayutilize a web scraping API to extract content related to an acquisitionfrom websites.

The online registry system may utilize machine learning technologiesthat provide further insights into the customers' interests and purchasehistories, demographic information including age, location, gender,occupation, and the like, based on the retrieved and clustered data, aswell as natural language processing technologies that are utilized toparse and process information from existing registries such that theinformation may be automatically formatted, to generate an acquisitiontrending model. For example, the online registry may utilize acomputational framework such as TensorFlow to build the acquisitiontrending model which facilitates big data processing that minimizessystem resources. For example, a base computational framework may beenhanced by adding an additional machine learning layer, which may buildand utilize algorithms that evaluate parameters associated with anacquisition, which may include location of the acquisition, price of theacquisition, climatic conditions of the acquisition, and the like. Theonline registry system may build trending models based on the trendingof the particular parameters. The generated acquisition trending modelmay be added to a user profile of the customer, which may be stored indata storage of the online registry system.

Acquisition system may also directly suggest items associated withpurchased item to be added to the system generated online registry. Forexample, if a customer purchased a car, the acquisition system mayrecommend registry items such as car accessories, different packages ofcar warranties, and car maintenance coupons. A customer may alsomanually add items to the system generated online registry, which mayautomatically update the registry.

In this example, online registry system 340 may utilize a registry API,load balancer, API layer and database. Online registry system maytransmit an alert to a customer device of the customer (registryrecipient) who purchased the item, providing a notification that theonline registry has been created. The alert may include a secure linkthat may be utilized to access the online registry on a customer device.Online registry system may also automatically transmit alerts to users(buyers) associated with the customer, upon generation of the onlineregistry, providing a notification that the online registry has beencreated, and including a secure link that may be utilized to access theonline registry on a user device via an online registry application. Auser 360 may also manually search for a customer's online registry.

An online registry application on a user device may be utilized toaccess a customer's online registry. User device may utilizelocation-tracking systems and methods, such as geo-fencing technologies,to determine the current location of the user's mobile device, and togenerate real time location based notifications, which may betransmitted to the online registry system. Based on the determinedgeolocation of the user device, the online registry system may transmitnotifications to the user device indicating the nearest location ofpreferred vendors of the associated registry items.

The online registry system may communicate with social networkingsystems to transmit and post notifications that an online registry hasbeen created for a particular customer, that may be available to membersof the customer's social network who have permissions, established bythe security systems of the social networking systems, to receive suchnotifications.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example method for generating and automaticallyupdating an enhanced distributed online registry. The process 400 maybegin at block 402. At block 404, online registry application processor120 may receive from acquisition server 110 an acquisition requestapproval including at least customer information, customer financialinformation, and one or more acquisition preferences. At block 406,online registry application processor 122 may retrieve information fromexisting online registries and other systems, and may cluster thecustomer identification information, the customer financial information,and the customer acquisition preferences with respect to the informationfrom the existing online registries and other systems to generate anacquisition trending model. Online registry application processor 122may utilize machine learning technologies that provide further insightsinto customers' interests and purchase histories, demographicinformation including age, location, gender, occupation, based on theretrieved and clustered data, as well as natural language processingtechnologies that are utilized to parse and process information fromexisting registries such that the information may be automaticallyformatted, to generate an acquisition trending model. The generatedacquisition trending model may provide a large profile of trending itemsassociated with a customer acquisition.

At block 408, online registry application processor 122 may utilize theacquisition trending model to generate an enhanced distributed onlineregistry which may recommend registry items for purchase based on acustomer's acquisition. Utilizing the unique integration withacquisition server 110, the generated enhanced distributed onlineregistry may recommend registry items that are compatible with the itempurchased by a customer. For example, in the context of a car registry,the system generated enhanced distributed online registry may provideregistry items such as car accessories, different packages of carwarranty, car maintenance packages that are compatible with thepurchased car across various merchant systems which are integrated withthe online registry system. The system may at set time intervals, asdetermined by the system or as specified by the registry owner, continueto retrieve information from existing online registries and othersystems, and updated customer identification information, the customerfinancial information, customer transaction information and the customeracquisition preferences to further enhance the acquisition trendingmodel. Accordingly, as the acquisition trending model is enhanced,additional compatible registry items may be added. The system generatedonline registry may be shared with other users to assist in thecommunication and seamless channel to purchase the customer's registryitems.

At block 410, authentication processor 124 connected to online registryapplication processor 122 may transmit an authentication request to auser device to provide access via a secure connection to the onlineregistry. The authentication request may include a request ofauthentication data based on the associated user device, user accountdata, and user privacy data.

Authentication data may include an alphanumeric code, a customerpattern, biometric data, a password, registered information (e.g.,registered known devices), device fingerprinting, device authenticationmechanisms (e.g., device PIN, device pattern login, device fingerprintor other device biometric), and the like. User device data may includeinformation such as service provider, device make, device model, devicenumber, device IP address, and/or service provider plan data. Userdevice data may be determined using data stored in user account dataand/or data received from a third party, such as a customer serviceprovider.

Authentication processor 124 may identify a user device 140 using devicefingerprinting (where many factors of the device are used to uniquelyrecognize the device), cookies, device ID (secure element ID (SEID),mobile equipment identifier (MEID), international mobile equipmentidentifier (IEMEI), mobile directory number (MDN), mobile identifiernumber (MIN), and SIM card identifier), mobile document verification.The device specific identifiers may not be accessible to third partyapplications, but may be available to a device manufacturer or mobilenetwork operator's application or a third party application with accessto certain private APIs that would provide this information.

As an example, authentication data may be generated to include analphanumeric code (e.g., a four-digit code, an-eight-digit code, and thelike) and/or a user confirmation request. Authentication data may begenerated in response to receive data, such as data input on a userdevice and transmitted to authentication processor 124. Theauthentication data may be generated based on a phone number, accountnumber, personal code (e.g., PIN and/or password), birthdate, and/orother user-input data. By way of example, authentication processor 124may receive the user-input data and generate an authentication code,such as a security token, a code generated by using a hash function, andthe like. Authentication data may be generated by authenticationprocessor 124 to expire within a predetermined amount of time, such asone minute, thirty second, and the like.

Authentication code data may be generated based on geo-location data,such as a location associated with a user device (e.g., user device 140or user device 202). For example, if a user is requesting authenticationfrom a user device to receive access to an online registry and theauthentication module 132 determines that an authentication code shouldbe transmitted to the user device based on data stored in data storage126 (or from a third party), the authentication processor 124 maydetermine a location of the user device, for example when geo-locationservices are activated at the user device. When the authenticationprocessor confirms that the user device is at a particular locationspecified by the authentication processor, the authentication processor124 may determine than an authentication code cannot be generated.

Authentication data may be generated to be included with a notification,such as an SMS message, an MMS message, an e-mail, a push notification,a voicemail message, and the like. A notification may include dataindicative of how to use the authentication code and/or data indicativeof a user authentication request. For example, where authentication datais transmitted in a push notification, the push notification may includea link to open a website, a mobile application, an authenticationrequest notification, and/or an SMS message to input the authenticationcode and/or response. In the same manner, an SMS message, MMS message,e-mail, and the like may include a link to direct a customer to inputthe authentication data and/or authentication response for access to theonline registry.

Authentication processor 124 may utilize multi-factor authentication,and may also evaluate a unique user ID-secure link token pair to confirmthe location of the user device. Authentication processor 124 may alsoestablish a secure communication interface with a third party socialnetworking system, and may evaluate security permissions associated witha user's social networking profile, to evaluate whether to share asecure link that provides access to the enhanced distributed onlineregistry.

At block 412, authentication processor 124 may receive user data anduser input associated with an authentication request from user device140 via communication interface 142. Authentication processor 124 mayevaluate the user data and user input. If authentication fails, theprocess may end at block 414.

Upon authentication of the user based on evaluation of the user data anduser input, online registry system may transmit a unique secure linkgenerated for a particular registry to the user device that providesaccess to the enhanced distributed online registry at block 416.Recipient registry users may be required to create accounts to access anonline registry. The system generated secure link may utilize a tokenand may include a unique id associated with the recipient registry useraccount. Authentication processor 124 may generate an audit log thatrecords online registry activity, which may include which users havebeen authenticated to view the registry, which users have requested toview the registry, and which users have actually accessed the onlineregistry.

In an embodiment, authentication processor 124 may request viacommunication interface 142 the exact location of a user device, whichmay be determined utilizing GPS, WiFi based geo-fencing technologies(NFC technologies may also be utilized), and the like. If authenticationprocessor 124 detects that a user device is within a proximity of aparticular merchant associated with the registry items of enhanceddistributed registry, authentication processor 124 may automaticallytransmit, via communication interface 128, an alert to the user deviceproviding a secure link to access the enhanced distributed onlineregistry.

Online registry system may communicate with a third party rewards systemutilizing an API, and may receive a notification that a user has earnedor redeemed rewards for a particular merchant associated with items onthe enhanced distributed online registry. Upon receiving a notificationthat the user has earned or redeemed rewards for a particular merchantassociated with the enhanced distributed online registry, the onlineregistry application processor 122 may transmit via communicationinterface 128, an alert to the associated user device providing a securelink to access the enhanced distributed online registry

At block 418, a user may access the online registry via the receivedsecure link. The user may utilize online registry application 144 onuser device 140 to access the online registry. Online registryapplication 144 may display a user interface, which displays the onlineregistry. Online registry system may automatically generate and transmita notification to a customer device associated with the registry ownerthat a user has accessed the online registry. A user may utilize onlineregistry application 144 to purchase items from the online registry.

At block 420, online registry application processor 122 mayautomatically synchronize the enhanced distributed online registry inreal time as registry items are added and purchased. Once an item hasbeen purchased, online registry application processor 122 willautomatically mark the item as purchased. Accordingly, as soon as theitem is purchased, the online registry will be automatically updated andusers accessing the registry will see this update in real time. Toaccomplish this, online registry application processor 122 may utilizeWeb Socket connections to push real time data to user devices byestablishing a persistent bi-directional connection between the clientand the online registry server. As such, the data is delivered muchfaster than a traditional push notification because of the persistentconnection, which facilitates a more efficient user of system resourcesto handle frequent data update by providing a persistent exchange ofdata in real time.

Online registry application processor 122 may transmit alerts, via pushnotifications, to a user device based on these automaticsynchronizations indicating whether registries items have been added,purchased, removed, and whether additional registry items have beenrecommended.

The process may end at block 422.

FIG. 5 depicts an example user interface 500 on a user device that maybe utilized by a customer (registry owner) to select items to add to thesystem generated enhanced distributed online registry. For example, acustomer who has purchased an item such as a car utilizing anacquisition system may log in to an online registry application 510which may display a summary of the system generated online registry 520.A customer may also utilize the application to add items to the onlineregistry. For example, upon clicking on the maintenance registry itemthe user interface may display a list of preferred vendors 530associated with the selected maintenance registry item. The customer mayselect a vendor, and may be presented with the vendors respectivemaintenance plans, of which the customer may select a particular plan(s)to add to the registry, which will be updated in real time.

FIG. 6 depicts an example user interface 600 on a user device thatdisplays a summary of the system generated enhanced distributed onlineregistry, that may be automatically updated in real time. For example,user interface 600 displays system generated compatible car accessoryregistry items.

FIG. 7 depicts an example user interface 700 on a user device that maybe utilized to authenticate a user to provide access to the systemgenerated enhanced distributed online registry to display and allow theuser to purchase items electronically from the system generated enhanceddistributed online registry. A user may log in to an online registryapplication 710 which may display a summary of the system generatedonline registry 720 for a customer (registry owner) who has purchased acar. A customer may also utilize the application to select a registryitem to purchase 740. The user may purchase the selected registry itemfrom within the online registry application and does not need to leavethe application and purchase the item on the associated merchant's site.The online registry application may utilize an API to communicate withthe merchant site to facilitate this transaction. The application mayutilize an Iframe to embed third party content from the associatedmerchant site in the user interface. Accordingly the online registryapplication provides a seamless experience for the user, who does nothave to leave the application to purchase a registry item. Onlineregistry application 144 will be integrated with a transaction system tofacilitate the associated transaction. Once the transaction has beencompleted, the online registry will be updated in real time.

The present disclosure is not to be limited in terms of the particularembodiments described in this application, which are intended asillustrations of various aspects. Many modifications and variations canbe made without departing from its spirit and scope, as may be apparent.Functionally equivalent methods and apparatuses within the scope of thedisclosure, in addition to those enumerated herein, may be apparent fromthe foregoing representative descriptions. Such modifications andvariations are intended to fall within the scope of the appendedrepresentative claims. The present disclosure is to be limited only bythe terms of the appended representative claims, along with the fullscope of equivalents to which such representative claims are entitled.It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for thepurpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intendedto be limiting.

The foregoing description, along with its associated embodiments, hasbeen presented for purposes of illustration only. It is not exhaustiveand does not limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Thoseskilled in the art may appreciate from the foregoing description thatmodifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteachings or may be acquired from practicing the disclosed embodiments.For example, the steps described need not be performed in the samesequence discussed or with the same degree of separation. Likewisevarious steps may be omitted, repeated, or combined, as necessary, toachieve the same or similar objectives. Accordingly, the invention isnot limited to the above-described embodiments, but instead is definedby the appended claims in light of their full scope of equivalents.

In the preceding specification, various preferred embodiments have beendescribed with references to the accompanying drawings. It may, however,be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto,and additional embodiments may be implemented, without departing fromthe broader scope of the invention as set forth in the claims thatfollow. The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded asan illustrative rather than restrictive sense.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A system for generating an enhanced distributedonline registry, comprising: an acquisition server; a data storage thatstores customer identification information, customer financialinformation, and one or more customer acquisition preferences thatenables the generation, transmission and processing of compatiblecustomer acquisition data; and a communication interface thatfacilitates secure integration and transaction processing between theacquisition server, the data storage, a merchant system, an acquisitionsystem, an account provider system and/or a user device to providesimultaneous financing prequalification, financing and transactionprocessing in real time; wherein the acquisition server: providesreal-time acquisition determinations; builds acquisition contentassociated with the acquisition determination and compatible customeracquisition data, wherein the content is configured to be processed bymachine learning and natural language processing technologies andlearning models based on system generated factors associated with theacquisition; and transmits, via the communication interface, to anonline registry application processor, the acquisition content and anassociated acquisition request approval including at least customeridentification information, customer financial information, and one ormore customer acquisition preferences retrieved from the data storage,to generate online registry items that are compatible with the customeracquisition and the customer acquisition preferences.
 22. The system ofclaim 21, further comprising an authentication processor that receivesuser data and user input associated with an authentication request, sentfrom the user device via the communication interface, to authenticatethe user.
 23. The system of claim 22, wherein upon authentication of theuser based on evaluation of the user data and user input, the systemtransmits a secure link to the user device that provides access to theacquisition request approval.
 24. The system of claim 22, wherein theauthentication processor confirms the location of the user device over awireless connection by evaluating a unique user ID—secure link tokenpair.
 25. The system of claim 21, wherein the acquisition serverestablishes a secure communication interface with a third party socialnetworking system.
 26. The system of claim 25, wherein the acquisitionserver transmits to a user device, via a push notification, a requestfor permission to share with the third party social networking systemthe acquisition content and the associated acquisition request approval.27. The system of claim 25, wherein the acquisition server generates auser profile that is stored in the data storage, wherein the userprofile indicates whether a user opts in or opts out to automaticallysharing notifications of acquisitions via third party social mediasystems.
 28. The system of claim 21, wherein the acquisition servermakes calls to the online registry system via private ApplicationProgramming Interfaces (APIs) utilizing a token to provide a securecommunication channel.
 29. The system of claim 21, wherein theacquisition server utilizes a web scraping API to extract contentrelated to acquisitions from third party websites.
 30. The system ofclaim 21, wherein the online registry application processorautomatically synchronizes the enhanced distributed online registry inreal time as acquisition as acquisition content and an associatedacquisition request approval are received from the acquisition server.31. A method for generating an enhanced distributed online registrycomprising: storing in a data storage, customer identificationinformation, customer financial information, and one or more customeracquisition preferences that enables the generation, transmission andprocessing of compatible customer acquisition data; and facilitatingsecure integration and transaction processing between the acquisitionserver, the data storage, a merchant system, an acquisition system, anaccount provider system and/or a user device to provide simultaneousfinancing prequalification, financing and transaction processing in realtime; providing real-time acquisition determinations; buildingacquisition content associated with the acquisition determination andcompatible customer acquisition data, wherein the content is configuredto be processed by machine learning and natural language processingtechnologies and learning models based on system generated factorsassociated with the acquisition; and transmitting, to an online registryapplication processor, the acquisition content and an associatedacquisition request approval including at least customer identificationinformation, customer financial information, and one or more customeracquisition preferences retrieved from the data storage, to generateonline registry items that are compatible with the customer acquisitionand the customer acquisition preferences.
 32. The method of claim 31,further comprising authenticating a user by receiving user data and userinput associated with an authentication request.
 33. The method of claim32, further comprising, upon authentication of the user based onevaluation of the user data and user input, transmitting a secure linkto a user device that provides access to the acquisition requestapproval.
 34. The method of claim 33, further comprising confirming thelocation of the user device over a wireless connection by evaluating aunique user ID—secure link token pair.
 35. The method of claim 31,further comprising establishing a secure communication interface with athird party social networking system.
 36. The method of claim 35,further comprising transmitting to a user device, via a pushnotification, a request for permission to share with the third partysocial networking system the acquisition content and the associatedacquisition request approval.
 37. The method of claim 35, furthercomprising generating a user profile that is stored in the data storage,wherein the user profile indicates whether a user opts in or opts out toautomatically sharing notifications of acquisitions via third partysocial media systems.
 38. The method of claim 31, further comprisingmaking calls to the online registry system via private ApplicationProgramming Interfaces (APIs) utilizing a token to provide a securecommunication channel.
 39. The method of claim 31, further comprisingutilizing a web scraping API to extract content related to acquisitionsfrom third party websites.
 40. The method of claim 31, furthercomprising automatically synchronizing the enhanced distributed onlineregistry in real time as acquisition as acquisition content and anassociated acquisition request approval are received from theacquisition server.